Chapter 2

POV: Ava Carter

The room was small. Two beds. Two desks. One window that looked out at the training rink. And Kai Bennett sitting on the left bed with his arms crossed, watching me drag my bag through the door like he was studying something he had not figured out yet.

I set my bag down and said nothing.

"You got taller," Kai said.

I kept my back to him and unzipped my bag slowly. "Maybe you got shorter."

He made a sound that was almost a laugh but not quite. "Still got that mouth on you."

I turned around and looked at him. I made my face flat and unbothered the way Noah always looked when someone was trying to get under his skin. Noah never let things show. He was smooth and cool and I had watched him do it my whole life.

I could do this.

"What do you want, Bennett?" I said. I pushed my voice down low in my throat. Slower than I naturally spoke.

He leaned back on his hands and smiled at the ceiling. "Just saying it is good to finally have a real challenge this season. The guys here are decent. But none of them are actually interesting." He looked at me sideways. "I have been waiting to beat you properly since regionals."

"You did not beat me at regionals," I said.

"I beat your time by three seconds."

"The goal count says different."

He was quiet for a second. Then that slow smile came back. "Yeah. This is going to be a good season."

He was not being friendly. He was sharpening himself against me like I was a stone he wanted to use. I understood that. I had been underestimated my whole life and at least this was different. At least this was someone who thought I was worth the effort of destroying.

I turned back to my unpacking and breathed through my nose and told myself to hold it together.

"Lights out at ten," Kai said behind me. "Coach Merritt is serious about it."

"I know the rules."

"Just making sure. You seemed distracted downstairs."

I said nothing. I folded my shirts slowly and concentrated on keeping my hands steady and making my shoulders loose and relaxed the way Noah carried himself. Wide. Unbothered. Taking up space.

Kai watched me the whole time. I could feel it like a hand pressed between my shoulder blades.

+++++

Practice started at six in the morning. The rink was already bright and hard and cold when we stepped onto the ice. Twenty two boys and me. Everyone's breath came out in white clouds. Skates scraped and cut as people warmed up and I pulled my helmet down low and let the cold settle into my skin.

This part I knew, this part was mine. Coach Merritt blew his whistle and ran us through passing drills first. Clean and sharp and fast. I kept pace easily. Then speed drills. I pushed hard and my skates found their rhythm and I stopped thinking about Noah's name on my jersey or Kai's eyes tracking me across the rink and I just moved.

Someone behind me swore under their breath.

I pulled ahead.

At the end of the speed line Coach Merritt was looking at his stopwatch with his eyebrows raised. "Carter." He looked up. "Again."

I went again.

When I stopped the second time there was a small quiet across the ice. Not a big dramatic quiet. Just the kind where people look at each other without saying anything.

Then came the contact drills. This was where Kai decided to show up.

He came at me hard the first time. Not illegal. But hard. His shoulder drove into mine and I stumbled two steps and caught myself and spun back into position. I looked at him. He looked at me. His eyes were bright and sharp.

He wanted to see what I would do.

I went straight at him the next drill. I did not slow down and I did not angle away and we collided in the middle of the ice with a crack that rattled my teeth. We both fought for the puck. His face was six inches from mine. Both of us breathing hard and fast and pressing against each other with everything we had.

He got the puck. I stole it back in two seconds flat. His head snapped up and I was already gone.

When practice ended I could feel his eyes on my back the whole walk off the ice.

++++++

I called Noah from the bathroom at eleven o'clock with the door locked and the tap running. His face appeared on my screen looking pale and tired and guilty all at once.

"How is it?" he asked.

"Fine," I said. Then. "Hard. But fine."

"Ava."

"Do not Ava me right now. I need you to tell me everything you know about Kai Bennett. Habits. Weaknesses. Anything."

Noah was quiet for a moment. "He watches people. He is always watching. He picks things apart until he finds the loose thread and then he pulls it."

"Great," I whispered.

"You do not have to do this."

"Yes I do."

"I could just call the academy and explain that I changed my mind and then you could come home and we could figure out something else together and maybe there is another way to get you on the ice legitimately and just because the door is not open right now does not mean it will never open and I just I feel terrible about all of this, Ava, I really do."

I looked at my brother's face. The guilt sitting all over it like something heavy he was carrying.

"Is that a yes? Are you going to take your spot back?"

He looked down. I had my answer.

"I am going to make this worth it," I said quietly. "I promise you."

I hung up before he could say anything else.

The showers were communal. I had known this was coming and I had a plan. I waited until the room was almost empty. Just two guys left and both of them leaving. I watched through the gap in the door and counted seconds and the moment the last one walked out with his towel I moved fast.

In and out in four minutes flat. I was pulling my shirt over my head in the hallway when I heard footsteps behind me.

I turned around. Kai was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. His hair was still damp from the shower. His eyes were calm and steady and very focused.

My heart turned over.

"Bennett." I kept my voice flat. "You are in my way."

He did not move.

"You played different today," he said.

"Good different or bad different."

"Just different." He tilted his head slightly. "More aggressive. Faster on the turn. You never used to drive straight into contact like that. You always angled away last second."

I said nothing. He pushed off the wall slowly and took one step toward me.

"You are not playing like the Noah I know."

The hallway felt very small. My pulse was loud in my ears. I kept my face still and my shoulders straight and I looked him dead in the eyes and refused to blink.

"People change," I said.

He looked at me for a long moment. Something moving quietly behind his eyes like water under ice.

Then he stepped closer.

"So tell me, Carter." His voice dropped low. Calm. Certain.

"What are you hiding?"